J. Antonymuthu, a former TNEB engineer who has gone beyond the call of duty in supporting poor orphans

A month before his retirement, J. Antonymuthu, Assistant Executive Engineer with Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, met with an accident in Chennai. His right leg was broken and he required hospitalisation. It was during the time spent in hospital back in 1994 that he developed the urge to do “something good for the society.”

“I remember, I was asleep under a heavy dose of medication. When I woke up, father-in-law, who is a doctor based in Madurai, and my wife Lalitha, were beside me. I just told them I wanted to start an orphanage for poor children after I was discharged.”

Initially, the family tried to convince him to take voluntary retirement and shift to Madurai, but Antonymuthu's inner voice guided him elsewhere. With the retirement benefits which he received, he set up ‘Children Welfare Home' in 1995. Finding orphaned children with no or poor financial backing was not difficult in the metro and he gave shape to his dream with the first batch of 16 boys.

Initial struggle

Recalls Antonymuthu: “Initially it was quite a struggle. We had a rented accommodation. These children were of different ages with hardly any education. Disciplining them was a major issue.”

Having set himself with a goal, he was not the ones to give up easily. Burning holes in his pocket, he ran the orphanage for 12 years providing everything for the boys whom he took under his fold each year through advertisements. From food, clothes, medicines, education, he paid for everything as even donations were not easy to come by. “They were, and still are, far and few,” he says.

Four years ago, Antonymuthu shifted to his wife's native town, Madurai. He has no regret mentioning how financially tough it is to fund a large family as his. On an average, this childless couple raised 16 to 20 boys each year. “In big cities, everything is more expensive. We felt life in a small town would be comparatively easy and we could also take more children from rural poor background and provide them with an opportunity to do well in life.”

With this renewed mission, Antonymuthu brought his orphanage to the Temple Town. While from his last batch of children in Chennai, a majority left after finishing Class XII, he brought the remaining few and found a dozen more to restart the orphanage. He built his own home which can accommodate 40 boys. At present, he has 26 boys, aged seven to 14 years, with him. All of them study in CSI High School, Pasumalai.

Talking about them, he says, “This age group is usually the most disobedient lot. They often run away and are difficult to control. Whoever is able to study well, we want to help them to study further. Though I provide free education, it is my regret that not a single child from my orphanage in these years has gone beyond Class XII. These kids are more interested in movies than studies.”

Living on hope

He follows up, fondly: “In the present group, I feel 90 per cent of them are good students and hope that some of them will surely fly high.”

What is a matter of consolation for him is that is does not cost too much to run the home in Madurai. What he complains of is the lack of sufficient hands to help. Antonymuthu also realises there are not many ways of raising funds either. But this down-to-earth Good Samaritan has stopped worrying. “I have realised blessings rain from the sky and God provides timely help,” he says, even though the advertisement he has placed in the papers for a warden has not evoked any response.

Today the orphanage is being run by Antonymuthu, his wife, a cook and a driver. He finds it difficult to manage without a warden because the bunch of pre-teen boys gets really unruly at times. “I am growing old and can't run around much,” he says. “But”, he adds, “I wanted to serve the starving and the poor. It is my dream to introduce some refinement and class in them by providing them the right kind of environment and opportunity.”

Kind-hearted people like Antonymuthu have demonstrated that each of us can contribute to the society – for the poor and the underprivileged. This Independence Day, he is our city's unsung hero.

(Making a difference is a fortnightly column about ordinary people and events that leave an extraordinary impact on us. E-mail to somabasu@thehindu.co.in to tell about someone you know who is making a difference)

Two things are great here.J. Antonymuthu's social work for underprivileged and explanatory article by SOMA BASU...Hats off to both of you...

from:
Sanjeev S R

Posted on: Jun 7, 2012 at 14:46 IST

great job sir...may god bestow upon you with helping hands for this noble cause

from:
krati

Posted on: Aug 11, 2011 at 21:41 IST

The article on J.Antonymuthu connects beautifully with common people. All like minded people should come forward to help noble people like him. Congratulations for the article.

from:
Jaspal Singh

Posted on: Aug 11, 2011 at 08:58 IST

God bless The Hindu and the writer for publishing such articles. I read with interest the report on Mr J. Anthonymuthu, a retired EB employee. Your information is an eye opener for people who have some interest in humanitarian service. I am a retired Judge in Tamil Nadu. I do some such service in Tirunelveli district in a small way.I shall be glad to help Antony.

from:
Joseph S

Posted on: Aug 11, 2011 at 08:57 IST

I have read the column about Mr.Antonymuthu, making a difference: lighting up lives article, which is highly commendable. He deserves a big applause for his doings to the community. I would not mind helping him financially to run his home. You should provide his contact number and address at the end of the article?

from:
Dr.Ezhil Natarajan

Posted on: Aug 11, 2011 at 08:54 IST

I enjoyed reading the article on Antonymuthu. I found his story inspirational. Thank you very much for writing such a story. It was such a relief reading this story of selflessness during these times of monumental greed and corruption(2G Raja, Yeddyurappa). I think you must do a follow up interview with people like these. You must not just tell the story of what they did. You must do a follow up on why they do it - Where do they get the inspiration to do these selfless acts. How do they find joy in the ordinary activities of life. We are living in times of sensory overload. We need to be constantly entertained. However few people like Anthonymuthu find happiness in the ordinary. How they get to love the ordinary must be part 2 of the story; part 1 being the original story about what they did.

from:
Anand Subramanian

Posted on: Aug 11, 2011 at 08:52 IST

Great Story!!! Please tell us how we can help this organization.

from:
KV

Posted on: Aug 11, 2011 at 01:18 IST

Wonderful to hear about J. Antonymuthu. It would also be a nice thing to provide the contact information of the person who has been highlighted every week, so that we might also be help in some ways.

from:
Pothi

Posted on: Aug 10, 2011 at 19:11 IST

Thank you Hindu for highlighting such ordinary souls doing such great work in service of society. It really reposes faith in the people. Keep highlighting more of such individuals.

from:
Pradeep

Posted on: Aug 10, 2011 at 18:55 IST

Our society needs to learn from you sir. Hats off to your courage.

from:
Saurav

Posted on: Aug 10, 2011 at 18:48 IST

Kudos to Mr.Antonymuthu for carrying out such a noble task despite the difficulty of raising funds. We need more people like him in society today

from:
Aruldoss

Posted on: Aug 10, 2011 at 18:31 IST

Its really a great feeling to know that people like antony exist in our society today. salute him on I-day

from:
Shiva

Posted on: Aug 10, 2011 at 18:27 IST

Every 100 years their will be a one hundred Anthonymuthu's - God is Their where Anothymuthu's are - wishing him all the best and good health till he wishes to live.